Key points

Obsessiveness tends to distract us from difficult feelings by making us feel hopeful in overcoming them.

We often engage in activities instrumentally, without considering whether they make us happy.

Often, we find meaning by being engaged with what makes us feel good.

Obsessiveness is a veil for inconvenient and difficult truths, both personal and existential. Those who struggle with obsessiveness often can’t articulate why they love what they obsess over or how having it and holding onto it would make them happy. Obsessiveness as a distraction manifests in the pursuit of fame, romance, and financial success. It isn’t that these goals are inherently bad (they aren’t inherently good either); it’s that those who identify as perfectionists pursue them to add belt notches. F

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